A young mum who came to international media attention after setting up a fund for mugging victim Alan Barnes has spoken of the “negative comments” people would make about her weight.

Katie Cutler has embarked on this year’s Fit Factor which will see her, along with five other finalists, put through a 12-week fitness programme designed to get them into shape, fast.

Katie’s fundraising page for pensioner Alan Barnes went on to raise more than £300,000, sparking an international media frenzy. It meant Katie was thrown into the spotlight, having her image plastered over newspapers and magazines.

The 21-year-old said: “Most people have been really nice and I do get recognised quite a lot now.

“But I’ve also had some negative comments about the way I look and my weight.

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“Because I’m doing so much work with Alan now, I feel like I have to look a bit better, whereas normally I wouldn’t have thought as much about it.”

Katie, of Greenside, in Gateshead, is hoping to bring her weight down from 15st 6lbs to about 12st during the three month Fit Factor period.

She said: “I used to stay fit and go to the gym quite a lot but, after I had my daughter, life changed.

“Also, I’m a beauty therapist so I spent a lot of my time sitting down and don’t really move about as much as I should.

“I’m very busy and sometimes work 70 hour weeks, which means I don’t have time to eat structured meals.”

After hearing about the Fit Factor, ran by the Journal, Katie applied to take part.

The 12-week intensive training programme means Katie now faces months of strict exercise and diet in order to help break her years of bad habits.

The young mum is having a busy few months as she is also in the process of launching her own charity with Alan Barnes.

She said: “It’s just so hectic at the minute with all the different things I have going on.

“But the first week of training has been fantastic.

“I enjoyed the beach bootcamp last Saturday - although it was a little bit cold to begin with, we soon warmed up.

“At the minute I feel like I have so much more energy because of the exercise I’m doing and the food I’m eating. Which is just as well really, because I’m in the middle of setting up a charity with Alan, as well as running my own business and looking after my little girl.

“I have to say a big thank you to my parents who are driving me over to North Shields three times a week for the training. I couldn’t do it without them.”

The Fit Factor contestants work out at David Fairlamb Fitness. Katie Cutler

Katie, whose daughter turn three in May, added: “Even just listening to David talk about what we are going to be doing was inspirational.

“I’m really excited to be involved and am looking forward to the coming weeks - I know it’s going to be hard work.

“I am aiming to reach the 12st mark which I hope is a realistic expectation.”

David’s Diary

With the first few sessions of Fit Factor 2015 over, personal trainer David Fairlamb reflects on a busy - and calories burning - few days.

Its been a tough but exciting first week for the Fit Factor finalists.

Once the euphoria of being selected and realising they have the opportunity to turn their lives around settled down, it was time to focus 100% on the food and exercise.

The next 12 weeks are not only about making changes to the daily habits of these six, its about creating good, new habits that need to stay for the rest of their lives.

Here’s my diary from the past week”.

Session 1: Monday, March 16.

During the first session, I was teaching our finalists how to work big muscle groups which will help supercharge their metabolism and burn more calories.

Learning basic exercise correctly is crucial to build strength and stability and will also lower the risk of injury.

They all coped very well, and the fear on all their faces before we start soon started to fade.

This was the first year all six managed to complete the initial session without any incidents, a fantastic start with good mobility and determination from all.

Session 2: Thursday, March 19.

The finalists all arrived looking more relaxed but still with a few aches from Monday - just as I would expect.

Also, I think the fact their initial photos and statistics had been published in the Journal meant the worst was over.

In today’s session I kept them moving non stop for 60 minutes without a break.

The sheer weight of each of the six meant, at the moment, the exercises were non weight baring. For example, John being nearly 29 stones could do some serious damage to his joints if I had him jumping round the gym.

The hour workout was in a very controlled environment and I could see how happy they were as they started to believe completing the session was possible.

They managed brilliantly, only Alan felt a little lightheaded, probably due to the fact he cycled eight miles to the gym on his bike. The first proper session was complete and they all left buzzing.

Session 3: Beach Bootcamp; Saturday, March 21.

This was a real baptism of fire as it was freezing cold on Tynemouth Longsands Beach.

The six arrived, not really knowing what to expect.

My Beach Bootcamps are designed so any size, shape, age or level of fitness can take part, which I had explained to them, however, they still looked nervous.

The tide was out so there was plenty of hard sand and they all managed to keep moving throughout the 45 minute session.

Myself and the other Bootcampers thought they all coped brilliantly, they even managed to complete the dreaded Longsands Beach ramp. Completing their first bootcamp was a big achievement which ended a very positive first week.

Session four: Monday, March 23.

They team arrived already showing signs of new found confidence.

I decided to really push them out their comfort zones and see how they reacted. The attitude and the way they attacked the session was fantastic, their training was superb and unrecognisable from the tentative six who could hardly move a week ago.

What a transformation and we are only in week two.

They all completed a leg circuit five times then an arm/core circuit, finishing with some interval training on the aerobic machines which was tough in itself.

Conclusion: The six have become a real team and, if they can keep this sort of commitment and intensity going for the full 12 weeks, I expect the end results to be dramatic.

Panel:

Starting statistics of finalists

Claire Watson

Age: 41

Height: 5’7

Weight: 18st 5lbs

49% Body Fat

Stomach 53 inches

Jonathan Ord

Age: 43

Height: 6’2

Weight: 28st 10lbs

46% Fat

63 inches

Stephanie Raine

Age: 40

Height: 5’6

Weight: 15st 6lbs

46% Fat

Stomach 46 inches

Nigel Addison

Age: 42

Height: 5’7

Weight: 18st 9lbs

38% Fat

Stomach 53 inches

Katie Cutler

Age: 21

Height: 5’6

Weight: 15st 6lbs

47% Fat

Stomach 50 inches

Alan Noble

Age: 23

Height: 6’5

Weight: 25st 8lbs

41% Fat

Stomach 59 inches

Free flu jab

Morbidly obese people in England should be given a free flu jab on the NHS each year, say government advisers.

Public Health England and the government’s vaccine advisory committee are in agreement that obesity poses enough of a health threat to consider including it as one of the “at risk” groups routinely offered the vaccine.

It would put obesity in the same league as asthma, diabetes and heart disease.

The government is yet to announce whether it will act on the advice.

A spokeswoman from the Department of Health said this coming year’s flu plan was still being developed.

Nearly a million people in the UK are morbidly obese.

Morbid obesity is defined as a Body Mass Index (a measure of weight in relation to height) of 40 or more.

In the UK, about three women in every 100 and one man in every 100 fit in this category.

And experts say lessons from the 2009 outbreak of pandemic swine flu, which spread from country to country and infected a fifth of the world’s population, suggest that people who are morbidly obese are particularly vulnerable to severe flu.

While some very obese people might already be eligible for the flu jab because of co-existing health problems, the majority will not be, experts estimate.

By their calculations, about 800,000 extra people in the UK could then qualify for the vaccine if morbid obesity is added to the “at risk” list.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation said, based on the evidence available to them, it was “clear” that morbid obesity should be considered a risk factor for having the seasonal flu jab.

A spokesman said: “JCVI considered a summary of evidence, provided by Public Health England, which indicated that morbidly obese people are at an increased risk of complications and mortality from influenza, relative to healthy individuals, and additional evidence suggesting that such individuals respond well to vaccine.

“The committee confirmed its advice that morbid obesity should be considered a risk factor for seasonal influenza vaccination.”